South Africa

Whenever I write about the Civil service, I always get the odd email about how I am "obviously against transformation" etc. etc. Ho-hum, this accusation might work elsewhere but its not gonna fly with Someamoungus, see it seems to me the people who like to throw around these kind of allegations are usually the ones who are not doing their jobs correctly. This tactic is getting old and very predictable however, so far errant civil servants have used it very effectively to dismiss their own dismal performace so they will continue to use it. See these guys don't actually have to win the debate on quality of service, delivery etc., all they need to to is muddy the water enough with race baiting and accusations to cause the real issues to be obscured in the process. So, I'm not going to get sucked in, instead let's deal in some facts on the issue coming to us from an excellent writeup in the Sunday Times :  

"CRONYISM, incompetence and politics threaten the transition to a better life for many — though not for the few with the right party connections, according to a sometimes scathing report on economic transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation warns in its second transformation audit that time is running out for the government and its institutions to get the project back on track.

 

“We have been warning for some time that unless the country’s poor begin to feel the economy has something in it for them, national reconciliation is likely to unravel,” IJR executive director Charles Villa-Vicencio says in a preface to the report, which was released this week. Writing against a background of escalating civil protest against poor living conditions, he says: “The politics of promises and patience are yesterday’s mode in the townships.”

 

Transformation, suggest researchers Susan Brown and Alta Fölscher in a summary chapter, is more about a good life for the new elite than it is about a better life for the poor. “Experience has shown a humanly inevitable trend in the politics of redistribution — a threat of the process being captured by an interest group or groups, those with access to capital, networks and political backing,” they say.

 

Even where cronyism plays no role, inadequate or incompetent management is entrenching the disadvantages of the poor and black. The report echoes many of the currently popular criticisms of ANC governance, backing its conclusions with extensive research.

 

Black economic empowerment enriches a powerfully connected elite, with white-owned companies that need black shareholders to survive carrying most of the risk in debt-heavy empowerment deals. At the lower end of the economy, the government is relying on ineffective policies to boost small and micro businesses. There is no safety net for these mainly subsistence entrepreneurs when their projects fail..."

This is just a small section from the entire article, I strongly suggest you read it in its entirety.